Movistar Yamaha Complete Sepang Test Schedule

Today the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team completed the first official IRTA test of the 2018 season, held at the Sepang International Circuit. both riders had another go at trying the new aerodynamic fairing, this time in blistering hot conditions. They finished the final day of testing in 8th and 18th place respectively.

Viñales again showed his great determination and motivation today. He stuck with his plan to ride as many laps as possible in order to prepare for longer runs. The 23-year-old had already completed 140 laps on the first two days but still worked tirelessly for more than three hours straight, collecting valuable data, before taking a break.

The Spaniard got back into his leathers a little after 3 o'clock in the afternoon, to try out some last fine-tuning of the settings. He improved his time, clocking a day's best of 2'00.547s, posted on lap 70/71, that saw him finish in 18th place, 1.717s from the front.

Though the teammates were unable to improve on their times set yesterday, Viñales' and Rossi's 1'59.355s and 1'59.390s laps, clocked at the end of Day 2, earned them seventh and ninth place respectively in the combined timesheets.

Maverick Viñales

Position: 18th - Time: 2'00.547 - Laps: 71

"Honestly, we worked quite well. Today it's been difficult. I don't know why we lost time, especially in the afternoon - in the morning it went quite well. Anyway, we worked hard, trying to improve, so now we have to check the data and see what we can improve on in Buriram, there we'll know more. I think the new fairing is really positive because I felt an improvement in acceleration, so let's see. I think the circuit in Buriram has many points of acceleration, so we can test it even better there."

Massimo Meregalli

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director

"It was a demanding day today for the team, here in Sepang. The conditions were very hot and that made it more difficult. both riders continued to put in hard work, riding many laps, but they didn't have the same feeling they had the two days before. Nevertheless, we almost managed to finish the testing schedule. Overall, this test has been positive, with some good results. We confirmed that we made an improvement in terms of electronics, top speed and tyre life. We will check the data we collected these last few days and work hard over the next two weeks, so we'll arrive prepared at the next test in Buriram."